1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a safe outlet, and more particularly to a safe outlet having a rotary type locking body in which the rotary type locking body falls down when a plug is not plugged into the outlet, to thereby make outlet terminals not opened, to thus prevent an electric shock accident in advance, and to thereby entirely block foreign substances such as dust from entering an earth terminal hole.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, in order to receive electricity generated and supplied from electric power plants and to use household electrical appliances at homes, burial type outlets are provided for an electrical power supply on the walls of homes. Also, one might use a plurality of electric appliances by using a multi-tap outlet other than the burial type outlets.
However, since a conventional outlet has an earth terminal hole that is always opened, children may insert conductors such as metal chopsticks into I-shaped insertion holes, to thereby cause a number of problems of leading to an electric shock accident, as well as filling the I-shaped insertion holes, or damaging internal outlet terminals to thus make it difficult to use the outlet.
In addition, foreign materials such as dust are introduced into the outlet through the opened earth terminal hole, and thus people are always exposed to risks of electric shock accidents due to a short circuit.
Thus, an outlet that blocks insertion holes of an outlet when the outlet is not in use, has been developed. Thus, electric shock accidents due to insertion of chopsticks into opened insertion holes by children may be prevented to some degrees when the outlet is not in use. However, since rotating plates that block the insertion holes of the outlet and the earth terminal hole are exposed, there may be a probability that children may happen to insert things into the insertion holes in the case that the rotating plates are made to rotate to cause the insertion holes to be opened. As a result, the conventional outlet does not fully overcome the problems such as the danger of electric shocks and damage to the outlet.
As the conventional art, the Korean Patent Application Publication No. 10-1996-0036207 published on Oct. 28, 1996, discloses a safe outlet, in which the insertion holes of the outlet are maintained to be closed when the outlet is not in use and to be opened only when the outlet is in use, and which includes: a cover in which plug insertion holes are formed; a plate that is coupled at a predetermined interval on a back surface of the cover and has communication holes that are aligned with the insertion holes of the cover; an opening and closing plate that is inserted slidably between the cover and the plate, and has a pair of pin holes through which connecting pins of the plug can be fitted, in which the opening and closing plate can move between a locking position where the pin holes are displaced from the insertion holes of the outlet and an opening position where the pin holes are aligned with the insertion holes of the outlet; a guide support unit that contacts the outer circumference of the opening and closing plate for restricting a moving direction and a moving range of the opening and closing plate; a movement control unit that allows the rotating motion of the opening and closing plate and the linear motion of the opening and closing plate when the opening and closing plate is in the locking position; and an elastic support unit that allows the opening and closing plate to return to the locking position. In the case of the safe outlet disclosed in the Korean Patent Application Publication No. 10-1996-0036207, the insertion holes of the outlet are selectively opened and the insertion holes of the outlet and the earth terminal hole are always isolated from the outside when the outlet is not in use, to thereby prevent electric shock accidents that occur by children due to the outlet in advance. However, in the case of the safe outlet disclosed in the Korean Patent Application Publication No. 10-1996-0036207, it is difficult for users to rotate the opening and closing plate to thus decrease usability of the outlet because of difficulty in inserting a plug into the outlet. As well, since the safe outlet disclosed in the Korean Patent Application Publication No. 10-1996-0036207 was developed in dedicated use for 110 V, a conventional 220 V plug cannot be inserted into the outlet.
Moreover, in the case of the conventional art safe outlet, the pin holes that are formed in the opening and closing plate and through which the plug can be inserted may be easily pushed and rotated by a chopstick or auger, to thus cause an electric shock accident, or foreign materials such as dust are introduced into the outlet through the opened earth terminal hole, to thus cause malfunction of the outlet.
In addition to the Korean Patent Application Publication No. 10-1996-0036207, as the other conventional art, there is the Korean Utility-model Registration No. 20-0192441 registered on Jun. 2, 2000 whose detailed description will be omitted for convenience of explanation.